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Sleep
Walking: a Condition That's Serious Business

If
you have ever woken up out of bed in a
strange place, then you probably know just how scary sleep walking can
be. Also known as somnambulism, sleep walking is a sleeping disorder
that most of us are at least somewhat familiar with, and it involves
moving around and performing normal activities while still
asleep.

While most people who sleepwalk only move around
a bit or for a very
short period of time, there are cases where people have performed very
complex tasks such as cooking or driving while still
remaining
completely asleep and unaware.

Causes
of Somnambulism

Sleep
walking usually happens during the deeper stages
of sleep, and
most people who sleep walk remain completely unaware of it, even if
they are awoken during the act. Unlike most other sleeping disorders,
the causes of somnambulism are not
that well known and are incredibly
wide ranging.

It
actually seems that one of the most common causes is
actually related to
genetics, as people with a family history of sleep
walking are much more likely to suffer from somnambulism themselves. In
addition to the genetic factor, there are also many other possible
reasons that a person sleep walks, including:

Stress

Sleep deprivation

Poor sleep hygiene

Alcohol or Medication
(sedatives,
stimulants, antihistamines, and anti-psychotic drugs are all though to
increase instances of somnambulism)

Abnormal heart rate

Fever

Sleep apnea

Psychological
disorders

Asthma

Epilepsy or seizures

Symptoms
of Sleepwalking

If
you have ever seen someone sleep walk, then you know that it is
quite easy to spot. While sleepwalking, a person’s eyes will be open,
but they will typically have a glazed over and faraway look to them.
Additionally, if you try to speak to the person, they may answer you in
very slurred or jumbled
speech.

Also,
the person will most likely not
remember the event, unless they are woken up before they make it back
to bed. Most cases of sleep walking last for between two or three
minutes up to thirty
minutes, and if the person is not woken up, they
will typically go back to sleep quite easily although not always in the
same place.

If
you see your partner, friend, roommate, etc. walking
around randomly during the night, maybe they could be sleep walking.
Still other signs of the condition can include talking while sleeping
(usually saying random or incomprehensible things), sitting up in bed
abruptly during the night (usually look awake but will not respond),
and sometimes even aggressive behavior towards a person who tries to
wake them up, but luckily this seems to be incredibly rare. Still,
there is an urban legend that waking a sleepwalker can cause permanent
mental damage or psychosis, but
this is completely untrue.

While
sleep walking, some people may simply just stumble around the
room, while others have been known to perform much more complicated
tasks.

There
have been instances where people have driven while asleep,
or started fires by attempting
to cook while sleeping. Also, there are
other, even scarier things that have been known to occur to some people
who sleep walk.

Some
people have reported that their partner becomes
very violent in the middle of the night and starts to hurt them, but
eventually it is realized that this is all happening while the offender
is still asleep.

There
is even a phenomenon known as sleep
sex, which
is a distinct version of somnambulism where a person attempts to have
sex with whoever is around while they sleep.

There
have actually been
several very public cases involving sleep sex, one in which a man was
accused of rape until it was eventually determined that he often tried
to have sex with whoever was nearby while he slept.

Treating
or Preventing Somnabulism

In
itself, this condition is actually considered
to be quite harmless.
In fact, the only real danger with this condition is that the person
will injure themselves while walking around. Injuries due to walking in
your sleep are actually quite common among those with this condition,
so sometimes it is necessary to try and protect against these by moving
dangerous objects out of the way or even locking doors to keep the
sleepwalker out.

If
you have a child who sleepwalks, you might want to consider putting
a gate to keep them in their room. You should also not let them sleep
in a bunk bed, clear anything off the floor they might trip on, make
sure there is a gate in front on the stairs, and lock the doors and
windows to make sure they stay in the house and don’t get
lost.

As
your
child is very likely to be frightened if you wake them up, you should
instead just try to guide
them back to their bed as gently as possible
if you find them walking around the house in a dazed state. Luckily
episodes like this tend to get rarer and rare as the child ages, and
they will most likely have outgrown the problem by the time they are a
teenager.

Still, there are a few
things that both adults and children can do to help prevents episodes
of walking in their sleep. It seems that a high level of sleep deprivation
often triggers this type of event, so it is important to get adequate
sleep and prevent one’s self from becoming overly tired.

Another
way to prevent these episodes from occurring is
to abstain from drinking
alcohol or taking antidepressants as they can make
the condition much worse and make it more likely for an episode to
occur. Also, if you have a level of stress this can also be a cause, so
trying to minimize your stress and ensure you go to bed relaxed can
also help.

Still,
unless the problem is being caused by a medical
condition or medication, there is not much a doctor can offer in the
way of help, so trying to prevent injuries from occurring during an
episode may be your only option.